Port-of-Spain, Dec 3 (IANS) He is credited with introducing Indian movies that gave the diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago an identity. Now, a book on Ranjit Kumar records his contribution to the physical, cultural and political development of this Caribbean nation and his experience in two professions – engineering and politics.
Set against the backdrop of British rule over India and the Caribbean during the early 20th century, “Ranjit Kumar: Bridging The East and The West” launched last month at the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) in collaboration with his family, also details Kumar’s escapades between India, England and Trinidad and Tobago.
The first movie he launched here, “Bala Joban”, gave birth to the local Indian film industry in 1935 and played a major role in the renaissance of Indo-Trinidadian culture.
Born in Rohtak, then in Punjab, in 1912, he was trained as a civil engineer in England, returned to India and served for two years in the Indian Police before seizing an opportunity to travel to Trinidad in 1935.
Kumar was appointed assistant city engineer in 1937, and in the process significantly transformed Trinidad and Tobago’s infrastructure, most significantly through the construction of Wrightson Road, the country’s first dual carriageway, on land reclaimed from the harbour.
Some people have been demanding that Wrightson Road be renamed Ranjit Kumar Road. He was also instrumental in the construction of the Hilton Hotel.
Political life then beckoned him, and he served as a member of the Port-of-Spain City Council and later in the legislative council from 1946 to 1956, fighting tirelessly for the social, economic and political architecture of the then colonial country. He died in 1982 in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Ranjit Kumar: Bridging The East and The West” is authored by Bridget Brereton, emeritus professor of history at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and Premnath Gooptar, a retired school principal and well-known cultural promoter, while historian Brinsley Samaroo has penned the foreword.
Samaroo, who spoke of Kumar’s contribution to Caribbean thought, focussed on the Indian expatriate’s defence of the political orthodoxy of the time saying he was never “a member of any Indian parties”.
“He preferred to be in the larger political scene because he never saw the question of development in ethnic terms. We are still too honed in the politics of ethnic divisiveness to see otherwise,” Samaroo exlained.
“Ranjit Kumar would have been appalled at the current nature of our politics. We have gone back into the ethnic womb in which the majority of the population finds enormous comfort,” he added.
Bereton described the book as a very readable biography about an absolutely remarkable man, while Gooptar billed it as a journey that started with research work on his doctoral thesis, “The Impact of Indian Movies on East Indian Identity in Trinidad”. (East Indians had been brought to the Caribbean from the Indian subcomtinent to serve as indendured labourers.)
This publication is not about Ranjit Kumar, rather it is about Trinidad and Tobago of which he was an indispensable contributor, Gooptar noted.
It is a thrilling combination of history and personal drama. The story of this son of India and the reality of his experience in his adopted country will certainly captivate its audience, he added.
(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com)